It’s been an absolutely amazing week with Hong Kong/Canadian/American pianist Vicky Chow! We recorded my solo piano compositions, The Banff Suite. I composed it during a residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity a few years ago. Lisa and I would hike a trail, and then I’d compose a piano piece inspired by […]
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The Trees Are Coming Soon!
I’m excited to announce that the Trees.Listen album I created with harpist Sharlene Wallace will be released October 4! Here’s the official unveiling of the album cover… Our suite for lever harp and fixed electronics is inspired by the enlightening book To Speak for the Trees by acclaimed medical biochemist and botanist, Dr. Diana Beresford-Kroeger. […]
Listening to the Trees
After much anticipation, harpist Sharlene Wallace and I have finally unveiled our creative collaboration, Trees.Listen, to the world! And what a remarkable way to do it. This past weekend at the Arboretum in Guelph was extraordinary, featuring Sharlene’s world premiere performance of the entire suite for a large, receptive audience. The event also included immersive […]
Summer Thoughts
Each week this summer, I posted a random thought/idea/feeling/wish that I hope will help make me a better person and at the same time be a positive influence on the world…
More Rivers Premiere in Newfoundland
A lovely irony that More Rivers was premiered beside an ocean! But that did not diminish the specialness of the occasion, considering that it was Christina Petrowska Quilico doing the premiering and it was hosted by Sound Symposium in one of my favourite places on the planet, St. John’s, Newfoundland! Along with Christina’s performance, it […]
Recording Trees
What a thrill for harpist Sharlene Wallace and me to enter into the 5th and final step of our creative collaboration, Trees.Listen. It was a great three days of recording at the Union Sound Company with our friend, Jean Martin. We really appreciated the help of Darren McGill during our sessions. Our suite for lever […]
Recording a Recovering Brain
On two recent Saturdays, I enjoyed spending time with my friend, Kathryn Ladano, recording my composition, Anatomy of the Recovering Brain. This is a work I composed for Kathryn last year detailing the challenges that brain injury survivors face, some for many years following their injury. The hour-long piece also shares how survivors are succeeding […]
More Rivers Recording
I recently attended Christina Petrowska Quilico’s recording session for my new composition, More Rivers, a suite of solo piano pieces Christina commissioned me to compose for her. Christina’s album recording is being produced by David Jaeger and engineered by Dennis Patterson. What a special day it was for me to be in the presence of […]
Preparation for A River Without End
What a tremendous privilege it was to meet up with concert pianist extraordinaire, David Jalbert, in Ottawa to review my composition he commissioned, Un fleuve sans fin / A River Without End. When David and I set out on this collaborative journey, he told me of his spiritual connection to the St. Lawrence River. Having […]
Venice Biennale Sound Installation
It’s been a great week here in Venice, attending the opening of the Biennale! I feel so honoured to have been invited to compose an electronic work to accompany part of my friend Parul Thacker’s exhibit at the Palazzo Vendramin Grimani. Parul’s suspended hand-sewn double-sided stitched drawings were partly inspired by our collective experience while […]
More Rivers Are Flowing
What a delight to visit Christina Petrowska Quilico to go over More Rivers, a new suite of solo piano compositions I composed for her. Abby, Christina’s dog, supervised our productive session and kept me nicely in line. Christina is a highly acclaimed pianist and Order of Canada recipient. I have been such a big fan […]
Annex Singers Rehearse ‘I Am Ice’
Want to know how to feel like the most fortunate human being on the planet? Compose music and have a choir sing it to you while you sit in front of them! This was exactly my experience recently as the Annex Singers rehearsed a new work they commissioned me to compose for them: I Am […]
World Premiere – All that remains: Residual Moments
There was a beautiful energy in The Aperture Room in the heart of Toronto’s downtown for the world premiere of All that remains: Residual Moments last week. Gunilla Josephson‘s evocative moving imagery projected on 3 large screens surrounding members of the Thin Edge New Music Collective performing a live soundtrack was truly an immersive and […]
Countdown to Residual Moments
It’s a week to go before the world premiere of All that remains: Residual Moments, a large-scale performance art installation featuring music, film and live performance. Rehearsal with members of the Thin Edge New Music Collective went splendidly well today. My multi-year collaboration with innovative video artist, Gunilla Josephson, is shaping up very nicely. Thin […]
FRACTURES Album
I’m so excited to announce that the album recording of the Fractures song cycle will be released on November 17! Here is the album cover designed by Matthew Maaskant… This has been an album 8 years in the making! The idea to compose Fractures came in 2016 when I gave a presentation about environmental music […]